Spring Contest Powwow and Art Market in Fort Collins helps preserve way of life (slide show added)

By Jessica Maher Reporter-Herald Staff Writer

Posted:
04/21/2013 07:33:22 PM MDT

In anticipation of a powwow, it takes Theo Redriver about an hour to paint his face and dress head to toe in the traditional garb of his Mescalero Apache ancestors.

Waiting to join hundreds of other Native Americans for the grand entry dance at the Northern Colorado Intertribal Pow-wow Association's Spring Contest Powwow and Art Market on Sunday, Redriver said that tradition -- observing it and teaching it -- is the most important part of any powwow.

"This is like our church; it's where we pray for the sick," he said. "It's also to teach the younger children about the traditions -- all of our different traditions."

In its 21st year, the annual weekend powwow was held Saturday and Sunday at the Northside Aztlan Community Center in Fort Collins, where it brings out as many members from varying tribes -- Arapaho, Shawnee, Navajo, Lakota -- as it does representatives from other states. Tony Ward, a member of the Gwich'in Nation, was in town on vacation from Anchorage, Alaska, and couldn't pass up the opportunity to attend the powwow.

He recognized Redriver, who traveled a comparatively short way from Wellington, from a previous powwow. Redriver said he attends more than a dozen powwows every year.

"Most are intertribal," he said. "We all know each other's songs."

The weekend featured many rounds and types of dances, with winners selected in several of those, including the women's jingle dance, men's chicken dance and traditional original style dance.

As a jingle dancer, 15-year-old Savanna Francis of Denver said she's participated in the powwow since she was 6 years old. Selected this year as one of the powwow princesses, however, she said she was slightly more nervous about the grand entry.

"I'll be in the front row this year," she said while her hair was wrapped in otter fur.

Tradition was also of importance for the art market, with vendors set up among the spectators, surrounding the dance floor. Clayton Aguilar brought his family's business with him from Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M., displaying the handcrafted stone jewelry that he learned to make when he was 9 years old.

"My father always wanted us to keep up the tradition," Aguilar said. "He wanted us to keep up the jewelry because that was always the way of life."